The Heir
by Draconigena
Summary: Not sure yet but will have lots of Harry, Possibly a Ron/Hermione relationship
1. The Dream

The Heir  
  
Chapter 1 – The Dream  
  
He was running down the Hogwarts grand staircase, he was going to be late. He ran through the Entrance Hall, the light spilling in from the many windows. The place was deathly quiet, not a sound could be heard except the pounding of his feet on the hard stone floor. He leapt down the front steps, landing hard and stumbling forward; he didn't care. He was going to be late. He sprinted down the grounds towards a large oval shaped building. As he got closer he could see flags flapping in the wind and the roars of several thousand students madly cheering. He raced through an archway bordered with red and gold, into a changing room where six people also clad in red and gold stared up at him. His Quidditch team, two Beaters (Fred and George Weasley, Seventh Year), three Chasers (Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, also all in Seventh year), and new Keeper (Ron Weasley) and himself, Harry, the Seeker for the team and newly appointed Quidditch captain hurriedly threw on his red and gold Gryffindor Quidditch robes and grabbed his Firebolt. Because he had been so late he had no time to say anything to his team before the match. Slowly they all rose seeing he was ready and grabbed their own broomsticks. They rounded a corner and stood in formation in front of a large wooden gate. Harry at the front with Ron, Fred and George next and then the three girls lined up at the back. Harry heard Lee Jordan's voice over the megaphone, "And here come Gryyyyyffindor!" The gate in front of Harry lifted up allowing the team to fly out; as they did Lee called out their names and positions to great applause. "Potter, Seeker. Weasley, Keeper. Weasley, Beater. Weasley, Beater. Bell, Chaser. Johnson, Chaser. Spinnet, Chaser." As they took their positions on the field, Ron down one end of the pitch, the Beaters and Chasers hovering anxiously above a quivering box and Madam Hooch, (the referee) Harry flew high above the rest of his team and looked around at his opponents. They were all clad in entirely black robes. Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw one of his opponents draw up level with him, Harry turned and expected to see Draco Malfoy, instead he was face to face with Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker, one of the best in the world. Before he could think why he was playing against Krum Madam Hooch blew her whistle, letting the balls out of the quivering box and starting the game. Harry watched the game from his spot high above, constantly looking for the Snitch. As he watched the game he silently congratulated his self on making such excellent strategies. He saw the three Chasers moving in perfect harmony, using all of the strategies he had come up with. Fred and George also kept to their tactic; smacking the bludgers at the opposing Chasers whenever they got near the quaffle, it was working well. Each time a Chaser attempted to get the quaffle Fred or George would blast a bludger at them, causing them to swerve and leave the Chasers with on open path, or in one person's case--get one right in the nose. Harry who was delighted at the score 100-70 didn't pay too much attention to the game, only listened to Lee's commentary. Harry hadn't seen the Snitch the whole game, he was bored and had to stifle a yawn, during that moment Krum had seen the Snitch, Harry saw him go into a steep dive. He followed Krum almost vertically. Harry's eyes were scanning the ground in front of Krum, the Snitch wasn't there! Harry suddenly remembered during the Quidditch World Cup when Krum had fooled Adrian Lynch, the opposing Seeker into thinking he had seen the Snitch and caused him to crash headfirst into the ground. Harry pulled up on his broom and not a moment too soon, he felt his feet brush the grass, and above him he heard Krum swear in Bulgarian and the Hogwarts students yell praise at Harry. He resumed his position directly above the pitch, closely followed by Krum who had an ugly scowl on his face. Harry faked a look of concentration and shot off towards the opposition's goalposts, Krum followed close behind. Harry was dodging in and out of the players; he looked behind him and saw Krum mimicking his every move, Harry had an idea. He spotted George Weasley ahead of him, "George! Hit a bludger at me!" he yelled. George looked behind Harry and saw Krum, "Ok. Whatever you say!" As the bludger George had smacked headed for Harry's nose he prepared himself. Because he was so much lighter than Krum, he was a lot more agile. As the bludger came closer and closer he heard the crowd go silent; they were waiting to see what would happen. At the very last second, he barrel-rolled and came up and felt the bludger graze his scalp. Behind him he heard Krum give a yell; Harry turned around expecting to see Krum heading for the floor with blood streaming from his nose, instead he saw Krum flipping himself upright, he had an even uglier scowl on. Harry cursed himself and once again resumed his position above the pitch. He glanced down at the game for a brief second, the score was almost tied 130-120, Gryffindor in the lead. This was enough for Krum to spot the Snitch near the ground at Gryffindor's goalposts and to go pelting after it at break-neck speed. Harry whipped around and followed in the chase, he was no-where near as fast as Krum but he was twice as agile. Krum was about ten feet in front of Harry; they were gaining fast on the Snitch, whoever caught it would win the game for their team. Krum, not being quite as agile and quick at turning as Harry did not see the Snitch make a sudden dash underneath them. Harry went into a nosedive and turned his broom under him, missing the ground by a few inches. He was hanging upside down from his broom one arm grasping his broom handle, the other reaching for the Snitch. He looked back through his legs and saw Krum, his body flat against his broom gaining with unmatchable speed. Suddenly out of no-where, a bludger hit Krum right in the side of the head causing him to lose his concentration and his broom handle to stick into the ground, he was flung off and rolled to a stop, unmoving. Harry returned his gaze to the Snitch; it was fluttering ahead by about two feet. Harry was gaining but not fast enough, he flung his body forward and felt his fingers grasp the tiny ball, its wings stopped beating and folded into its body. With some difficulty he hauled himself upright and came to a stop in the centre of the pitch. He saw six blurs close in around him and heard Lee yelling, "Gryffindor have won! Harry potter catches the Snitch and leads the Hogwarts team to a 280-150 point win!" Slowly the glory, the people surrounding him faded away, Harry could feel a soft breeze on his face... 


	2. The Unexpected

Chapter 2 – The Unexpected Letter  
  
Harry Potter of Number 4 Privet Drive awoke early on the 31st of July (his fifteenth birthday). He rubbed his eyes, trying to remember his dream; he knew it had been a good one. He yawned, stretched and looked up to see his snowy owl Hedwig sitting on the windowsill, staring at him with an intense yellow eye.  
  
"Morning Hedwig," yawned Harry as she dropped several letters on his face. He sat up stretched and started to leaf through the letters. It was the usual list: Ron, Hermione and Hagrid. Then one other he did not normally receive, from Remus Lupin, the best teacher he had ever had and a good friend. Harry never usually got one from Lupin; he wondered what it could be about. As he was about to open it, his Aunt's voice shrieked up the stairs.  
  
"Harry, get down here and make us breakfast!"  
  
"Coming," answered Harry, reluctantly putting his letters down and going to make breakfast. Harry descended down the stairs as slowly as possible. As he entered the kitchen he saw his Aunt Petunia with her bony fingers lighting the gas on the stove. Harry's Uncle Vernon (who was about the size of a juvenile blue whale) was engrossed in the paper and snapped at Harry, "Do get a move on, boy!" Dudley, Harry's cousin, (who wasn't much smaller than Uncle Vernon) was watching him with his piggy eyes. He was starting to drool. Harry thought he looked as if he was imagining Harry to be a nice piece of bacon... Harry sauntered over to the fridge and took out some bacon, slapping it into the pan, causing the hot fat to splash and sizzle. He then popped four pieces of toast into the toaster and waited a few minutes. The toast jumped out of the toaster. Harry, who was prepared neatly caught it on a plate and put it on the table, leaving a piece on the side for himself. When the bacon was done he served it onto a plate and placed it on the table, he glanced up and noticed the paper's headline:  
  
Sirius Black Sighted!  
  
Harry stared in horror; he wondered how and why Sirius had been spotted. He usually never went out during the day, especially where he might be spotted, but this was not a wizard sighting but a Muggle one. As these thoughts chased around his head he excused himself and ran up the stairs, his piece of toast forgotten. As he entered his room he noticed there were two packages, one on his windowsill and one on the floor--birthday presents. He had no time for birthday presents at the moment. He snatched a piece of parchment off his desk and hurriedly wrote to Sirius,  
  
Dear Sirius  
  
I just saw the Muggle newspaper; it says you were seen, where? When? How?  
  
Please reply soon, I will be at Ron's.  
  
Harry  
  
He hurriedly folded it and attached it to Hedwig's leg, after sending Hedwig off with the letter he turned to his presents. He grabbed the small, round one off the windowsill; it was from Dumbledore, the small note attached to it said 'Happy Birthday Harry, From Dumbledore.' Nothing else. He opened it, and out fell a small red velvet box, engraved on the back was; Warlock & Squire, Quality Crafters of Fine Jewellery. He popped it open and inside was a large, intricately detailed lion, and from the lion's mouth hung a silver chain with a pendant shaped like a lion. Harry extracted it from the lion's mouth and turned it in his hands examining it very closely; on the back of the lion was a motto 'Noli Timorem Timere' (Never Fear Fear). Harry attached it around his neck and felt a new heat flow through him; he felt as if nothing could ever frighten him. As he looked down at it, he could have sworn he saw it start to glow, but he thought nothing more of it. He looked back at the box and noticed a small bit of paper protruding from under the lion's foot. He wiggled it out from under it and unfolded it. It was a note written on a very old piece of parchment, Harry read it, and then had to re-read it several more times before he could grasp what it said.  
  
To the person who has inherited my chain,  
  
If you are wearing the chain with the lion pendant, know this, if you did not prior know, let you be told! You are my heir; the chain and pendant you have inherited are symbols of my bloodline. I created this pendant to arm myself against the greatest dark wizard of my time, Salazar Slytherin. This pendant will aid you in the battle between good and evil, use it wisely.  
  
Sincerely,  
  
Godric Gryffindor  
  
Harry gaped at the letter for the fifth time, still not believing it. "I'm Gryffindor's heir?!" he closed his eyes and suddenly had a flash back to his second year when he had pulled Godric Gryffindor's sword out of the Sorting Hat and Dumbledore's words after, "Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled that out of the Hat." Dumbledore must have known when he had told Harry that. Harry smiled and tucked the note safely back under the lion's foot, reminding himself to tell Ron and Hermione. He closed the little red box and dropped it into his jeans' pocket.  
  
He turned to the other present and picked it off the floor with difficulty. It was much heavier than he had expected; he looked at it. It had shiny green wrapping paper with a small note attached to it that read,  
  
Dear Harry,  
  
Happy Birthday, I hope you like it, your going to need this next year, sorry I cant be there, I am on a mission for Dumbledore. Olympe and I are off to get the giants' support for the upcoming war. Sorry I can't be there I will keep in touch!  
  
Your pal,  
  
Hagrid  
  
He sat down on the corner of his bed and removed the wrapping paper and pulled out a heavy book. Engraved on the front was 'The Do's And Don'ts Of Beast Handling' by Grandis Belua.  
  
Harry smiled and placed it on his windowsill. He looked at the letter again "...for the upcoming war," Harry thought aloud, "Sorry I can't be there. Great, now I get to spend Care of Magical Creatures with Slytherin and some stupid teacher, this is all I need."  
  
He collapsed onto his bed and grabbed the first letter he saw. It was Ron's.  
  
Hey Harry,  
  
Happy Birthday! How are the Muggles treating you? My mum says you can come round ours for the rest of the summer, and we can go to Diagon Alley and meet Hermione about a week before school. Hermione will then come and stay with us until school. I have included a map so you can fly to our house. I hope it is ok!  
  
See ya soon  
  
Ron  
  
P.S. Check your Hogwarts Letter  
  
Harry checked Ron's map, it looked very basic, and it didn't look very accurate. Harry had another glance at the map before reading the last part of Ron's letter. He didn't remember seeing a Hogwarts letter, but when he checked again he saw an envelope made of yellowish parchment, the address written in emerald-green ink. He flipped the envelope over and saw the usual Hogwarts stamp, a purple wax seal with a lion, eagle, badger and snake surrounding a large letter H. He opened the envelope and out fell a shiny silver badge with a P on it. Harry stared at this badge with astonishment...he was a Prefect? "They must have sent it to the wrong person," he thought, but sure enough, when he checked the envelope it clearly stated in green ink, exactly what it had stated in his first year.  
  
Mr. H. Potter The Smallest Bedroom 4 Privet Drive Little Whinging  
  
Surrey  
  
"Wow" thought Harry aloud. He took out the piece of parchment that came with the badge; it read,  
  
Dear Mr. Potter, We are pleased to congratulate you on becoming a Prefect. Please meet at the top of the North tower in Professor Trelawney's Room for your Prefect Induction. Please see below for a list of the other Fifth Year Prefects.  
  
Gryffindor  
  
Ronald Weasley Hermione Granger Harry Potter Parvarti Patil  
  
Hufflepuff  
  
Justin Finch-Fletchly Ernie Macmillan Hannah Abbott Susan Bones  
  
Ravenclaw  
  
Mandy Brocklehurst Terry Boot Stewart Ackerley Padma Patil  
  
Slytherin  
  
Pansy Parkinson Millicent Bulstrode Malcolm Baddock Draco Malfoy  
  
Harry looked at the last name upon the list, a burning hatred welled up inside him, Draco Malfoy was his sworn enemy and had been ever since their first year when they had met on the Hogwarts Express. Harry could still remember it like it was yesterday, Draco had entered his and Ron's compartment flanked by his bodyguard look-a-likes Crabbe and Goyle, "...and my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." Ron had then sniggered. "Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles and more children than they can afford." He had then said to Harry "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."  
  
Harry in his rage crumpled the parchment in his fist. Realizing what he had done, he carefully unfolded the parchment and smoothed it back out and put it back in the envelope, along with the Prefect badge.  
  
Harry picked up the next letter; it was from Hermione  
  
Dear Harry,  
  
How are you? I haven't spoken to you in quite some time. Sorry about not replying to any of your letters, but I have been with Viktor. He has a huge house with a swimming pool and the lot! Don't worry, Harry, nothing has happened between us. I really miss you. Write to me when you get to Ron's and I will see you in Diagon Alley!  
  
Hermione  
  
Harry smiled at the thought of seeing Hermione again for the first time in three months. Her soft, caring brown eyes her soft bushy hair and her trim figure. Harry shook himself, what was he saying? Harry smiled again at the thought of Hermione and put her letter back into the envelope.  
  
He grabbed Lupin's letter and tore off the envelope and tried to decipher the cursive lettering,  
  
Dear Harry,  
  
I hope all is well. Sorry I haven't written for a while but Snuffles and I have had some undercover work to do regarding Voldemort.  
  
Harry remembered back to the end of last year when Voldemort had resurrected himself using some of Harry's blood. Dumbledore then sent Sirius to gather the 'old' crowd, Arabella Figg, Remus Lupin, Mundungus Fletcher.  
  
I am writing to wish you a happy birthday and also to tell you to meet me in the Shrieking Shack on the first Hogsmeade trip. (I think it is about a month after the start of school) I am afraid that I have some bad news.  
  
Moony  
  
P.S. Congratulations on becoming a Prefect, Dumbledore gave me a list of the new Prefects, tell Ron and Hermione well done too.  
  
Harry wondered what Lupin had meant by bad news... 


	3. Back to The Burrow, Again

Chapter 3 – Back to The Burrow, Again  
  
Harry secured Ron's map to the front of his Firebolt. He crammed the rest of his schoolbooks and other random stuff (his Sneakoscope, his wand, robes and spare underwear) he would need into his trunk and then attached his trunk to his Firebolt so it would be suspended in the air below him and headed off downstairs to let the Dursleys know where he would be going for the rest of the summer.  
  
He ran down the stairs, jumping the last three steps and landed, his legs absorbing the shock. He headed towards the kitchen where no doubt Dudley would have his eyes fixed on the telly and his several chins wobbling as he breathed. As he walked he looked down at his feet, listening to them slap against the hard wood floor. As he passed his cupboard under the stairs, he noticed a faint glow creeping from under the door. He wondered why he had never noticed it before, but then he did what any normal fifteen year-old boy would do, explore. He slowly opened the door and had a peek inside. The glow was coming from under one of the floorboards; he knelt down next to the glowing floorboard and grabbed a knife off one of the shelves. Being as quiet and careful as possible, he pried the floorboard up. The light that hit him in the face was equal to the light omitting off two million candles; he had to shield his eyes to stop himself from going blind. Harry enchanted his glasses to make them resistant to light, working the exact same way as sunglasses. He looked into the open space under the floorboard; it was about the height and width of a CD case. In the dead centre of the space was a small red, velvet box; almost identical to the one Dumbledore had given him. In fact it was the same as the one Dumbledore had given him. He took it out of the hole and flipped it over and sure enough there was the Warlock & Squire text. He opened it up and sitting inside on a silver pedestal intertwined with snakes, was a silver ring. Engraved on the top was what looked like a snake, or serpent of some kind; it was glowing, just as his pendant had done. He slipped the ring onto his finger, it fitted perfectly, probably because of some fitting charm placed on it so it would never outsize the wearer. Harry glanced back down at the open box and saw, under the ring, on top of the pedestal was the inscription, 'Potestas Quidquam Praebere Potest' (Power Can Give You Anything). Harry, having no idea what this meant became fascinated with how the ring had been glowing brightly before he had it on, and now was fading until it had stopped glowing altogether. Once it had stopped, he felt the rush of energy, but this time, instead of it being courage it was a feeling of power.  
  
Harry continued to stare at his ring until he was brought back to Earth when his Aunt, who had been putting dishes in the dishwasher slammed it shut, cursing the noise loudly. He replaced the floorboard and made sure it looked as if it had never been removed. He then crept out of the cupboard and closed the door, trying not to make a sound, but then *CREAK*, "What was that?" came his Uncle's voice along with the scraping of a chair and the sound of footsteps. His Uncle Vernon stood in the doorway to the kitchen, blocking most of the light coming through, "What were you doing in that cupboard, boy?" He said through gritted teeth  
"Nothing, I was just looking fo-" Harry was cut off.  
"If I find that anything has 'gone missing' or been moved, I will have your neck, is that understood?" "Yes sir," said Harry in a drawling tone. As his Uncle turned away, Harry yelled, "By the way, I'm going to stay with my friend and we're going to do magic!" and pelted up the stairs. As Harry reached the top step he heard his Uncle scream "Oh no your not!" he cried in a strangled sort of voice (he hated anyone especially Harry to say 'magic' in case any of the neighbours might be listening) and he charged up the stairs behind him. Harry flung his bedroom door open then closed it again to save him some time, he jumped on his floating Firebolt, tucked Hedwig's cage under one arm and grasped the front of his broom with his free arm. His Uncle, who moved surprisingly fast when he needed to, flung Harry's door open with such a force the handle went through the wardrobe. His piggy eyes fixed on Harry, he lunged at him, Harry, being Hogwarts' youngest Seeker in a century had acute reflexes and had sped out of the window before his Uncle had stretched out his arm, calling behind him "See you next summer!"  
  
He soared up into the clouds so no Muggle would accidentally look up and see a fifteen year-old boy sitting on a broomstick with a large trunk suspended under him soaring through the sky. "It's so wonderful to be flying again," he thought to himself "another year of Quidditch to look forward to." He was enjoying flying so much he didn't realize where he was going, he checked his compass that Hermione had given him in their third year, he was way off course, so he swung around 90o and corrected his flight. He had to dip below the clouds every now and then to make sure he was on the right track. As he flew over Salisbury he was engulfed in thick fumes of black smoke coming from various factories, he had to speed on through them, trying not to breathe too much in. The last time he dipped below the clouds he saw Ron's house, The Burrow. He looked down at it, it was the funniest house he had ever seen. It was held up by magic, any Muggle house built like that wouldn't have lasted six seconds. Harry spiralled his way down, as he was passing the top floor he heard Ron yell "Hey, Harry! Glad you could make it, I'll be there in a sec!!" As Harry reached the door it was flung open by a grinning Ron, "We-are-Prefects!" he yelled as Harry swung his leg off his broom "I did get a letter you know!" he yelled back at Ron, grinning from ear to ear.  
  
Harry followed Ron into the house, his trunk magically floating behind him. As he stopped his trunk caught up with him and bashed him in the back with a corner "Ow!" he exclaimed. Harry rubbed his back and was overwhelmed by the smells that were coming from the kitchen; apparently they would be feasting tonight, to celebrate them becoming Prefects and Harry's arrival to The Burrow. Mrs. Weasley who was a very plump woman and very good cook, smiled as he entered and said, "Hello, Harry dear, how was your summer" "It was awful, but I have a feeling that's going to change." He grinned back at her. As Harry was looking around, he saw Ginny sitting on a stool in a corner of the house with the bookshelf behind her looking at him with a book open on her lap. "Hello Ginny how was your summer?" Harry asked. Ginny gave a small squeak of surprise, causing her book to fall to the floor; she picked it up and began furiously reading. Harry could see that she was reading The Standard Book of Spells – Grade 4 by Miranda Goshawk. Ginny was in Year Four of Hogwarts, a year below Harry. In his second year (Ginny was in her first) Harry saved her from dying, Voldemort had used his memory, preserved in a diary to cause Ginny to open The Chamber Of Secrets and set a basilisk on all of the Muggleborns in the school. In his opinion, it would have put him off books of any sort forever...  
  
"Come on," said Ron, bringing Harry out of his thoughts "let's go dump your stuff in my room." Harry and Ron were climbing the rickety stairs when, on the second floor Fred and George ambushed them "Well, well, well, if it isn't our ickle Prefect" said George pinching Ron's cheek. "Georrof me" yelled Ron, slapping George's hand off his face. "And Harry!" exclaimed Fred grasping Harry's hand and shaking it turbulently "Congratulations on becoming a Prefect!" "Oh sure, make fun of me, and congratulate him," moaned Ron loudly. "Well what are brothers for!" exclaimed Fred, skipping off down the stairs, with George following suite. "I hope you choke on your Canary Creams!" called Ron after them. "They've been teasing me ever since I got my letter." Harry secretly knew that no matter how much Ron said he detested being a Prefect, it had always been his desire to outshine his brothers. They climbed the last two sets of stairs, chatting about their privileges as Prefects. "We get our own bathroom!" cried Ron gleefully "No more regular crapping for us!" Harry, who had secretly snuck into the Prefect's bathroom last year, had thought it would have been worth becoming a Prefect just to use the bath.  
  
As they entered Ron's room something that resembled a small, grey, fluffy tennis ball carrying two letters slammed into his face. "Ach!" cried Ron throwing the ball to the floor "Pig get off my face." Pig was actually his owl, a present from Sirius because Peter Pettigrew (Voldemort's loyal servant) using his Animagus powers had disguised himself as Ron's pet rat for twelve years. Ron picked up the letters Pig had slammed into him with. It was his and Harry's Hogwarts letters. Harry grabbed his off Ron, took it out of the envelope and unfolded it;  
  
HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY  
  
Set Books  
  
The Standard Book of Spells - Grade 5 – by Miranda Goshawk Palmistry & Tea Leaves; A Further Study into Divination – by Ivana See The Do's and Don'ts of Beast Handling – by Grandis Belua Advanced Transfiguration – by Trans Frequens Too Many Wizards' Spoil the Potion – by Severus Snape How to pass your O.W.L.S – by Albus Dumbledore  
  
Harry now understood why Hagrid had given him the book; he would need it for this year's Care of Magical Creatures classes. He paused and looked down the list again, "Snape has written a book?"  
  
"Oh, yeah, he's written quite a few I think." Replied Ron, halfway through a toffee, Suddenly his face turned blue and he grabbed at his throat, clawing at it. Harry leapt up, he thought Ron was choking, but, when he saw a large blue thing that resembled a tongue protrude from his mouth, he collapsed back into his chair, rolling with laughter until he had composed himself, by which time Ron's tongue was nearing six feet. Harry quickly reduced Ron's tongue back, Ron just sat there and gasped, "I-am going-to- kill them."  
  
Ron then ran up the stairs and had attempted to hex Fred and George, but them being in their Seventh year, just rebounded the spells upon him. He ended up with lots of acne and very wobbly legs. After Harry had put Ron back as best he could, (Ron still had some acne) he decided to explain to Ron about the letter he had gotten from Lupin and how it had told them to meet in the Shrieking Shack. Ron didn't sound too thrilled at having to go back into the 'haunted' house, last time he had been in there it was with a broken leg, it was not one of his favourite memories. But he wanted to see Sirius and Lupin again, so he agreed. At this point, Harry decided to tell him about the Muggle newspaper's headline, Ron seemed very concerned and wondered the same as Harry-- how had Sirius been seen by a Muggle. Harry and Ron had several ideas on what Lupin's letter could have been about; Ron kept insisting it was about Sirius but Harry believed it was something much more serious.  
  
After they had discussed what Lupin's letter could be about for a while longer, they decided to go outside and play Quidditch. It turned out that Ron had been practicing a lot over the summer, as there was an open spot for Keeper. Harry was amazed at how good Ron was; they set up three washing baskets floating in the air as goals and Ron managed to stop everything Harry threw at him, except when Fred, out of his bedroom window sent several hundred tennis balls flying at Ron, knocking him off his broom. Fred had sat there hanging out of the window howling with laughter so Ron made the window slam into his face. After this, a battle had broken out between Fred and Ron; Harry and George tried to stop it but got caught in the crossfire and had ended up in the battle, shooting at each other. In the end, Ron and George had been stupefied and Harry and Fred were each cowering behind a washing basket, shooting different spells at each other. There were scorch marks all over the garden. In the end, Mrs Weasley and Ginny had to come out and stupefy them both so as not to be hit by one of the funny coloured spells flying across the garden. Mrs Weasley and Ginny had to patch up the garden before bringing the boys back to life one at a time. After they had all been Enervated, Mrs Weasley made them all shake hands. She sent Fred and George off to de-Gnome the front garden and because Harry was there, let him and Ron continue with their practice. Harry and Ron continued to practice over the next few weeks until Ron could almost stop Fred's ball barrage.  
  
Mr. Weasley and Percy spent most of their day at the Ministry of Magic, trying to get as much information on Voldemort's whereabouts as possible so Harry only saw them at mealtimes, Percy wasn't enjoying his job as much as he had used to when Barty Crouch had been his boss. Sometimes at dinner, he would complain about how stressful his work was. Before Ron and Harry knew what had happened, it was time to go to Diagon Alley to meet Hermione. Once again they travelled by Floo Powder. They had arranged to meet Hermione outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, so they headed in that direction. As they walked down Diagon Alley they were admiring the things in the shop windows. Consequently Harry walked into someone, but it was the last person in the world he expected to see in Diagon Alley...  
  
"Mrs. Figg??" exclaimed Harry in astonishment "What...how...when??"  
  
"Harry my dear it's OK, I am a witch," said Mrs. Figg in a calming tone. This most certainly wasn't OK according to Harry. The woman whose house he had despised to look at was in fact a witch. Harry tried to get some answers out of Mrs. Figg but was reminded by Ron that they were supposed to be meeting Hermione. "Uh hmm" said Ron clearing his throat loudly, "Harry, we were supposed to meet Hermione five minutes ago." So Harry and Ron scuttled off to meet Hermione with a final call from Mrs. Figg "See you soon Harry, my dear!"  
  
When they caught sight of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, Harry scanned the tables outside and saw the back of Hermione's head. "Hermione!" he yelled and ran off, leaving Ron trailing behind him, Harry looked up and saw Hermione turn around and look for the sound of the voice. He was stopped in his tracks, Viktor Krum obviously had a house somewhere hot, Hermione was tanned, a perfect brown. Harry could see her brown eyes glinting with happiness at seeing them for the first time in three months. There was no other word for it, Harry thought, Hermione looks...beautiful. Ron caught up with Harry "Harry, why-do you-have your mouth-open?" he asked in between heavy breaths. He turned his head and saw the same thing Harry saw, and, if possible his jaw dropped even more. Hermione spotted them waved and began to jog lightly over to them; her hair fluttered behind her making it almost straight. She ran up to Harry and threw her arms around him; he felt very light headed. She then turned to Ron and did the same. They wandered over to the table Hermione had been sitting at and ordered some ice cream sundaes. Harry, Ron and Hermione spent some time discussing what they had done all summer. Harry knew that Hermione had visited Viktor Krum's mansion during the summer, Ron did not. Harry was trying to get Hermione to tell him what had happened while Ron, not having a clue what they were on about interjected "Hermione, why didn't you tell me?" Hermione blushed and said, "I didn't want you to assume something happened between us." Ron wouldn't look at her until their sundaes came and they changed the subject to who their new teachers might be.  
  
After they had had quite a few sundae's (they kept magically refilling) they headed off towards Gringott's Wizarding Bank to withdraw some money, after their money bags were jangling with a nice load of money they visited Flourish and Blotts, the bookshop. Harry, Ron and Hermione got all of their books; Hermione had a considerable amount more than Ron and Harry. Hermione went off to get a few other things she might need for school and to find Ginny, Ron (and Harry secretly) decided that he would defiantly need new dress robes, so they headed off towards Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions where they found Fred and George looking through some dark red dress robes "Hey George, how does this look, do you think this will fit him?" "Fit who?" asked Ron "Err...no-one," said George turning around to face them while Fred frantically tried to hide the robes (they were of course trying to find some robes for Ron from the money Harry had given them last year, as that was what he had asked them to do; buy Ron some new robes). Harry caught on and decided he would let George and Fred get on with their shopping. "C'mon Ron lets go have a look in 'Quality Quidditch Supplies', who knows, if you get onto the team you're going to need a new broom." Thankfully this took Ron's mind off the twins and they headed out the door. Harry looked over his shoulder and saw the twins give him a thumbs up and continue looking at the robes.  
  
As they stepped into QQS Draco Malfoy and his cronies Crabbe and Goyle ambushed them "Well, well if it isn't my least favourite Gryffindor Prefects." Malfoy drawled in a boring, monotonous tone. "And would you look at that, if it isn't The Marvellous Bouncing Ferret!" Exclaimed Ron, remembering back to last year when Professor Moody (who happened to be Barty Crouch Junior taking a polyjuice potion to look like Moody) had turned Malfoy into a ferret and bounced him around the Main Entrance. Malfoy winced at the memory, "I'll see you on the train, Weasley" and stormed out of the shop his hired goons trailing behind. "What a GIT!" said Ron with feeling. "Yeah, I hope we don't see him on the train" agreed Harry looking around "Hey, what's THAT?" he cried spotting a broom, mounted on a pedestal with a spotlight trained on it. Harry read the block of text underneath the broom,  
  
The Meteor  
  
This state-of-the-art Quidditch broom will handle with pinpoint accuracy, being able to turn and accelerate without you even moving, all you have to  
do is think what you want to do and voila. Upon completed purchase the broom will be telepathically liked with you, no one else will be able to use it. The Meteor's telepathist ability is made possible by detecting your brainwaves and doing what you think. If you need to summon your broom for any reason, just think about it being in your hand and no matter where it  
is, it will fly to you at record-breaking speeds. When purchased, your name will be engraved upon the handle with your own personal model number.  
The Meteor sports an advanced braking system. Each broom has a video- tracking device built in so no matter where you are you can always see your  
broom on your own handheld video device.  
Not recommended for children under 10 without a fully trained wizard's  
guidance.  
  
Harry had never thought his Firebolt would look out of date, but compared to The Meteor, it was pathetic.  
  
Ron and Harry stood there for a few minutes, their mouths wide open and their eyes scanning over the smooth, sleek redwood handle and oak broomtail Harry decided to find out how much that broom would cost, he walked over to the counter where a small, plump wizard with glasses was sitting on a stool reading Quidditch Quarterly. "Excuse me," said Harry "but how much is that new broom?" "Two Hundred Galleons." Replied the clerk without looking up. Harry looked extremely disappointed; Ron would never be able to afford that. He walked back over to Ron who looked at him eagerly, in reply Harry shook his head, Ron dropped his smile, "Let's go have a look at the older brooms," he suggested. They wandered over to one side of the room where there was a rack of older model brooms labelled Cleansweep 7 – Firebolt. Harry and Ron looked through the older brooms for a bit, Ron was thinking of getting a Nimbus 2000, the same as Harry had for 2 years and had never lost on, until he fell off and his broom was destroyed. Ron was also thinking the Nimbus 2001 but as Harry pointed out, Malfoy had a Nimbus 2001.  
  
As they kept looking Hermione and Ginny entered the shop, they spotted Harry and Ron and went over to them. "Hey, guys" said hermione "Oh, hey hermione," replied Harry "we were just looking for a new broom in case Ron makes the team" "What the hell do you mean in case I'm already on the team, no one's better than me!" grinned Ron cockily. "Yeah, yeah you wish," replied Ginny "Oh! I almost forgot, Harry, Ron, Ginny's parents are waiting for us, we're going back." Said hermione and briskly walked to the door, "are you coming then, god, why do people keep staring at me?" she asked to Ron and Harry who were looking at her with a glazed look in heir eyes, Ginny was frantically waving her hand in front of Ron's face, "Ron! Ron! Come on, we- are-go-ing-now," She said, speaking very slowly as if talking to a four year old. Without another word she stomped off to where hermione was standing and they walked out the door together. Once hermione was out of their sight Harry and Ron seemed to snap back to reality, they shook their heads as if trying to clear their minds, grinned at each other and ran out after the girls. 


	4. The Weasley's Surprise

Chapter 4 – The Weasley's Surprise  
  
Harry and Ron followed Hermione and Ginny down Diagon alley until they reached a small shabby building at one end of Diagon alley that Harry had never seen before. The building was green, most of the paint had come off and it looked very old, as if it might collapse at any moment, any muggle building like this would have fallen down, or been knocked down years ago, this however was a magical building so it was likely it would never fall down. Harry saw Mr. & Mrs. Weasley standing outside, hand in hand and looking very proud. "What do you think, Harry?" asked Mrs. Weasley "What do I think of what, Mrs. Weasley?" asked Harry looking confused. Mrs. Weasley waved her hand in the direction of the building, Harry looked up to see the sign that read 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes'. Harry suddenly realized with a jolt that this was Fred and George's joke shop they had been planning for all of last year. Harry turned to Ron "Did you know-" and stopped short when he saw Ron grinning at him mischievously, "We kept it as a surprise. It's not much at the moment but Fred and George have already sold loads of stuff. Pretty soon they'll be able to move to a bigger building."  
  
"It wasn't what I wanted them to be doing, I was hoping they would go and work for the Ministry, but, Fred and George like practical jokes, and after I found out there was such a high demand for their products I thought, what the hell!" Mrs Weasley explained to Harry.  
  
"Right." Said Harry looking slightly shocked at Mrs Weasley's language, "Can we go have a look inside?" asked Harry eagerly.  
  
"Of course, Fred and George would kill me if you didn't." Said Ron, already heading for the door.  
  
Harry and Ron stepped through the door, as they did so a rather large spider landed on Harry's head "Ahh!" he yelled throwing it to the floor, then something unusual happened, it burst into a firework display that formed itself into 'welcome' in several different colours that changed a few times before disappearing with a *pop*. "That happens every time someone new walks in, it's getting annoying but the look on their faces when a spider lands on their head; priceless." "Yeah, you should have seen Ron's face." Said Fred coming up behind them. "Crapping himself he was." Said George appearing next to Ron. "Anyway Harry what do you think?" Harry looked around the room; on each wall of the room were several shelves from the high ceiling to the wood panelled floor, each shelf was piled full of jars containing many jokes some of which were labelled "It's amazing, how long have you been doing this? You've been at home a lot of the time I was there." "Yeah, to stop you wondering where we were going all day we had some 'inside' help." Said George "Hello Harry!" said another voice, coming out of a storeroom. Harry turned to see who the voice belonged to, "Charlie! So you're the inside help!" "Yep, also these two." said Charlie, gesturing back towards the room he had been in, Harry noticed two more red-headed boys enter out of the door, they spotted Harry and waved, it was Bill and Percy. "Percy!" exclaimed Harry in surprise, "What are you doing here? I would have thought you'd be at the Ministry, a year or so ago you wouldn't have left." "Yes, well, ahem, that was back when I was, um, well an amateur." Said Percy, looking much redder around the ears than he normally did, the same as Ron did when he got embarrassed, "And then of course there's the current 'situation'." He was of course referring to Voldemort. "So why are you working here, aren't you needed at the ministry?" asked Harry, trying to sound interested. "Well, in fact, no I'm not because well..." hesitated Percy "He quit!" Piped in Bill. Harry's eyes widened in surprise, "You quit? Why? I thought you loved your job." "Well I used to love my job, that was until my bosses son, the dark lord's servant decided to kill his father, leaving me with Professor Lockhart as my boss." Harry gave an involuntary shudder; Lockhart had been the worst defence against the dark arts teacher he had ever had. "And not to mention the current situation, it had me so stressed so I decided I could do with a few laughs so I came here and ended up helping Fred and George." "Yeah, I wish he hadn't," groaned Fred hearing the last sentence of their conversation. He swiftly moved out the way as Percy launched a 'rib- tickling remembrall' in his direction. "Well Harry I best get back to work, have a look around, find one thing you like and it's yours; a souvenir from the Weasley's for your birthday." Said Percy and began putting jars on the shelf behind him.  
  
Harry wandered around the room; he stopped under a set of shelves labelled 'Magical Mayhem Makers; Hours of Fantastic Fun!' He scanned the jars, one caught his eye probably because it was bigger than the rest and had glittery writing that read, INCREDIBLE INVISABLE INSECTS. Harry took the jar down, peered inside and almost dropped the jar; there were many different kinds of insects, all of them looked very real but none of them were moving. Harry could see many different species, some magical and some not; huge black spiders, Harry suspected they could be tarantulas though he had never seen one; scorpions still with the tail but it looked as if the sting had been severed off. The only magical one Harry recognised were the small, sapphire blue Billywig's, Harry had never seen one as they are very fast and hard to see, their stings had also been removed.  
  
Ron, who had been talking with Bill, Percy and Charlie, came over to see what Harry had his nose in; he walked up behind Harry and looked over his shoulder, "Oh! Those things are great, Fred and George told me about them."  
  
"What do they do?" ask Harry giving his friend a quizzical look.  
  
"Here watch." Ron plucked a Billywig out of the jar dropped in on the floor and stamped on it, it made a squelch that made Harry feel so sick he had the close his eyes so as not to see the remains of the Billywig. "What did you do that for Ron you sick goit."  
  
"Look and I'll show you." Replied Ron. Harry opened his eyes and saw...nothing. Where Ron had been standing there was just, air. "Where are you?" asked Harry, looking around the shop, which now had several people in it looking in jars and laughing.  
  
"I'm standing about a foot away from you." Said Ron's voice loudly coming from, well about a foot in front of him. Harry stuck out his arm and felt it collide with something solid; Ron's chest. "Ooof," came Ron's voice sounding a little weak, "I didn't mean for you to hit me."  
  
"So these things," said Harry peering back into the jar, "make you invisible?"  
  
"Thank you Captain Obvious," Came Ron's sarcastic reply, suddenly popping back into view, he was clutching his chest. "Each insect has a timer, for how long you are invisible for, the Billywigs are the shortest with a timer of about a minute, the spiders are the longest, they last for about an hour, then there is a different insect for every ten minutes starting from one to sixty."  
  
"So how long does this one last?" asked Harry pulling a scorpion out.  
  
"Half an hour," replied Ron "that, the spiders and the Billywigs are the most popular, that's why there are a lot of them. Oh and I forgot to tell you but how long they last for is on the underneath." Harry shook his head and gave his friend a 'now you tell me' look. Ron headed towards the room Harry had seen Percy emerge from. He looked around the room for Percy and caught sight of some red hair behind a stack of boxes and walked over to them, "Hey Percy." Said Harry arriving at the other side of the boxes. A head poked around the side of the boxes, but it wasn't Percy, "Oh sorry Charlie I was looking for Percy, have you seen him?" said Harry looking slightly embarrassed.  
  
"Yeah, I think I saw him in the back room helping Fred and George with something." Said Charlie screwing up his face and looking as if he was trying to remember where he had seen Percy last.  
  
"Thanks Charlie" said Harry and jogged over to the door he had seen Percy emerge from earlier and pushed it open. What he saw beyond the door almost made him fall over. Instead of a small room as it looked like from the outside, it deceived the eyes like a lot of wizarding tents do. The room could have quite easily fitted two full-size Quidditch pitch's inside, with room spare. Harry looked around with his mouth hanging open; Ron was standing nearby watching him with an expression of amusement displayed on his face. There were many cauldrons of all different shapes, sizes, colours and smells. Harry walked over to the nearest one, which was labelled "The Weasley's Every Smell Stink Bombs" and was sprouting lime green smoke. Harry took a whiff of the smoke and recoiled, his hand clutched to his mouth, he thought he was going to be sick, which was quite obviously the smell of the smoke; it smelt of every bad thing in the world, sweaty feet and armpits, dog 'droppings' and old peoples homes, all combined into one. Harry turned to Ron still clutching his mouth and tried say, "Remind me never to buy these," but all that came out was "Rehmin e devr oo boy theez."  
  
Ron gave Harry a weak thumbs up, indicating he had understood Harry, when clearly he hadn't. Ron motioned for Harry to follow him; Harry nodded and followed Ron into a room with many computers and flashing lights and hundreds of displays each with a label with the products name and how long is left before it's ready. Harry looked at the one closest to him. It was the stink bombs, he looked at the timer, it had 10 seconds left, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and then it emitted a loud, high-pitched beeping. From a door behind him Fred emerged coved from head to toe in black soot and dust, there was a ring of white where he had been wearing goggles. He grinned when he saw Ron and Harry, Ron gave him a quizzical look as he rushed over to stop the stink bomb mixture from overflowing, "What a mess that would be." Harry muttered to Ron. Ron was about to reply when George came through the same door, "Hurry Fred the 'Devious Dragons' are going to go off again unless we seal their mouths! Oh, hey you two. Ron, mum is looking for you, she's waiting outside. See you on the train!" He called as Harry and Ron disappeared through the door. When they entered back into the main shop they noticed it had gotten really busy. It was mainly Hogwarts students filling up on jokes and pranks for the upcoming year. Harry recognised some of them including his own Gryffindor roommates, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan with their heads buried in a box of rib-tickling rememberalls, he caught a few words of their conversation as they passed that included "Neville, replace, fits of laughter." Harry assumed they were planning on replacing Neville's rememberall with one of the rib-ticklers. When they reached the front door they found Mrs Weasley, standing tapping her foot and her arms folded over her chest. "Come on boys, we're going to be late, we still have to get your school stuff. It's ten o'clock!"  
  
They hurried out of the door and back into Diagon Alley.  
  
They all had to hurry to keep up with Mrs Weasley as she strode along at an incredible speed for a woman of her height.  
  
They raced along Diagon Alley; occasionally ducking into shops where they got the stuff they would need for the up-coming year. When they reached Kings Cross they were all panting heavily from rushing from shop to shop with bags that were steadily gaining weight, (Hermione had discovered one of the twins had put a 'Heavy Weight Chew' in one of Ron's shopping bags.) Harry glanced up at the large clock on the wall, they had made it on time, they still had 15 minutes left. Suddenly Harry noticed that the second hand had stopped moving. He turned to Ron, "What's the time?" he asked, panicked. After he had spoken the words a green ray of light had shot out from his hand and landed on Ron's dark sweatshirt. As he and Ron watched transfixed it jumbled it's self around until it had formed 11:57:03. Harry followed the light and found it was coming from his ring; the serpent was shining a bright emerald green. Suddenly Harry realized; the train was about to leave, he quickly organised them getting through the barrier then ran through himself. He caught up to Ron and Hermione who were just about to enter their usual compartment. They settles themselves down then Ron spoke ' I think you had better tell us about the ring Harry.' 


End file.
